'Spice' shopping mall in Riga reported a 35.45 million lat (50.44 million euro) turnover in the first six months of this year, 47 percent higher than the same period last year. A total of 3,660,302 shoppers visited the mall in the period, 26 percent more than a year ago. The sales increase can be attributed to recent changes in the range of retail outlets, including international clothing brands Zara and New Yorker, the Elkor Centrs outlet and expansion. Once complete, Spice will boast a floor space of 100,000 square meters, making it the largest shopping center in Latvia.
Lithuania's energy project developer Axis Industries, part of the Rubicon Group, will turn to the Ukraine for biofuel boiler house installations, BNS reported on July 26. The company is in talks with Charkov Energoremont on the first project, modification of a 48 megawatt boiler at a school. "We are waiting for the political situation to stabilize there, and are investigating the market and preparing for implementation of larger-scale projects," said Axis Industries CEO Remigijus Baltrusaitis. This year's sales are expected to surge by 75 percent, to 280 million litas (81.2 million euros) this year, up from 160 million litas in 2006.
Estonian biofuels producer Graanul Invest showed a 60 million kroon (3.83 million euro) profit in 2006, surpassing the previous year's figure of 11.8 million kroons by more than five-fold. Sales more than tripled, totaling 422 million kroons, the company's annual report shows. The Danish market contributed 254.2 million kroons towards total sales, Sweden 66 million, Britain 19 million, Lithuania 7.7 million and Estonia 2.4 million kroons. Investment in 2006 included construction and outfitting of a pellet plant in Latvia, which is scheduled to start production this year. The company plans to raise both production and sales volumes and increase share in Western European and Scandinavian markets this year.
